Forgiveness
by chkrmsrfun
Summary: How exactly did Brittany and Santana go from such an angst-filled ending in the Duets episode to dancing joyfully down the school halls with eachother in Rocky Horror? This is what happened during the week in between to get them there.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This is my first attempt at FanFiction. Since I've lately been caught up in Brittana, I figured I would give writing them a shot. Forgiveness is my trying to understand just how they went from the angsty ending in the _Duets_ episode to dancing with intertwined pinkies by the end of _Rocky Horror_. Basically, this is me filling in the gaps of all the things we didn't see. Also, it was initially just going to be a one-shot, but I decided I had too much to fill in, so it's going to be broken up into chapters. Let me know what you think!

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Chapter One

After the duets competition last week, Brittany wasn't sure how to feel when she walked up to the steps at school on Monday morning. Santana was in her usual spot at the base of the handrail, her arms crossed over her chest with her eyes fixed hard on the ground as Brittany approached her. She watched the brunette carefully. A flash of her in a black t-shirt, loose jeans, and a pocket chain suddenly sprang into her mind as she walked closer. Santana's body was working its way down the staircase outside, with Quinn behind her. As she replayed the three of them singing "New York" in her head Brittany couldn't help but smile. Santana had looked ridiculously good in that rehearsal. The pangs of last week managed to disappear briefly at the thought of it. She was even still smiling when she finally reached her friend.

"Hey," Santana said, breaking Brittany's thoughts. The blonde's smile quickly faded, and she felt herself blush at allowing herself to get carried away with thoughts of Santana singing. Again. She pulled herself up, readjusting the backpack strap. She was supposed to be upset.

"Hi," she eventually said, not making eye contact as Santana watched her carefully. Brittany could feel her friend's eyes boring into her.

"Your mom said you left early this morning when I came by to pick you up," Santana started, picking at the ground with the toe of her shoe. Brittany thought back to earlier. She hadn't known if she would be ready to see Santana so soon after last week. So she had gotten up an hour early and walked the two miles to school instead of waiting to be picked up by her friend. She had sat in the Cheerios locker room for half an hour. Sue had barged in and insisted she leave in order for every locker to be strip searched for extra-calorie snacks she believed some of them to be sneaking in. So she had left, and then walked to sit under a tree outside one of the foreign language classrooms. Then, once students had begun arriving, she wasn't sure where to go until the bell rang. Eventually she wandered over to the staircase outside the quad. Santana would wait for her there if she ever showed up late to school, or if she got lost between classes. And even though she didn't know what she would say when she saw her, Brittany couldn't help but be pulled to Santana before the start of the day.

Now, standing in front of her best friend, all she could do was shrug in response.

It was quiet between them for a second. Then Brittany watched Santana move closer, closing the gap between them as students hurried past.

"Hey, Britt. Are you still mad about all of that?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Brittany kept her gaze down, refusing to look at Santana. She fingered the ends of her Cheerios skirt anxiously instead, still silent.

"Listen," her friend began. "I know how all of that looked. You just caught me off guard when you asked me to sing that duet with you for Glee club."

At this, Brittany picked her head up a little. "We've done a duet in class before."

"I know, but not to a song like _that_," Santana said.

Brittany let a loose string fall from her fingers. "It's just a song. Plus," she shrugged, "it's a really good one."

Santana gave a laugh. "I agree. You played it on a loop on your iPod that one trip to Regionals for Cheerios, remember? Till Coach Sylvester made you stop because she claimed it was filling the bus with too much estrogen."

Brittany felt her lips begin to curl up in a smile as her friend continued. "Look, I know I freaked and I shouldn't have run out on you like that." There was a small pause. Then, "I'm sorry."

Brittany's eyes shot up and met the steady gaze of Santana. It wasn't like her friend to apologize. Ever. To anyone. Though, Brittany had discovered over the course of their friendship that she was a pretty big exception to that rule. Still, an apology from Santana Lopez was hard to come by. She looked into her friend's dark brown eyes as they stared back, guilt evident in them. Finally, Brittany let herself grin.

"Well, I might be able to forgive you."

Santana eyed her, a smile sneaking across her face. "Good, because I want to help convince you that you should." She reached out a tan hand to grab hold of Brittany's opposite hers. "Besides, I've already forgiven you for attaching yourself to Wheels after the fact."

Brittany quickly snatched her hand away, her smile gone. "What?"

Santana looked around them, still keeping her voice low. "You know. When you left me high and dry to wheel around the cripple on Friday. Where did you two roll of two anyway? Wheel Chairs R'Us?"

Brittany narrowed her eyes. She knew what Santana was doing. She had done it before, when Brittany had danced with Mike one time for an extra hour after Glee rehearsal. She was jealous.

"Actually, I roller-bladed around my neighborhood while I pulled him along behind me on a rope," Brittany stated matter-of-factly, folding her arms across her chest. "It was fun."

Santana stared at her friend; attempting to wrap her mind around the image she had just been given. "Whatever, she said eventually, shaking her head.

"Besides, I only did that because you left me," Brittany added. She wanted to explain how hurt she had been by Santana's dismissal of her and their potential duet. But she knew it would be pointless. Santana was on a completely different level when it came to their relationship. But she couldn't bring herself to totally forgive her friend either. Maybe, Brittany thought, a week of keeping her distance would do them some good. Well, it would do Santana some good.

"And I told you I was sorry for that," Santana was saying, pulling Brittany from her thoughts. She moved another step closer to the blonde. Brittany could practically taste the coffee and mint combination on her friend's breath as she spoke. "Can we please just move on from this?"

Brittany listened, looking hard into the now soft eyes of Santana. It would be so easy to forgive her. Just move on. Pretend she hadn't been rejected by her best friend when she had tried to push the boundaries. Again.

Instead, Brittany dropped her gaze, shaking her head. "No," she whispered. "Not yet." She glanced up, finding a look of genuine surprise on her friend's face.

"B," Santana said. "Come on, please."

Brittany was going to make Santana feel what she had gone through. Even if it was just for a week. Or, she reasoned, feeling her heart ache at the sight of Santana so shocked, at least for a couple of days. As long as she could resist her, Brittany would try.

"I'll see you in Glee later today," she finally said, moving to turn away and head up the stairs into the school. She heard Santana start to speak.

"But, don't you need help getting to your first period? I know the science floor confuses you because of all the chemicals…they smell funny."

Brittany just kept walking. "I'll be fine," she replied over her shoulder. Then she climbed the rest of the stairs, leaving Santana behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Naturally, Santana had been right. Brittany quickly found herself stumbling along the science corridor five minutes after the late bell rang.

_Damn it, _she thought, trying to remember which classroom was the one she was supposed to be in. They had been in school for two months now, but so far Santana had been walking with her at the start of each day. During the first week, back at the end of August, Brittany had unknowingly walked into a Biology classroom because she thought it was the room next door, which had been mixing items and chemicals to create perfumes. Instead of entering clouds of sweet flower petals, however, she walked right into an introduction to pig dissection, where one of those said pigs was splayed out on a table, completely open.

She had run from the room screaming and, luckily, found Santana in the hall, who had stopped to chat up Puck against the lockers not far away. From then on, Santana had insisted on walking Brittany to her first period so something like that wouldn't happen again.

Now, though, Brittany was finding herself in a similar situation. All of the classroom doors were covered in Halloween decorations. With all of them looking exactly the same, and with the room numbers covered over with black and orange crepe paper, all Brittany could do was go door to door and peek in to see which class looked familiar. And finally, five rooms and one pitiful look from Kurt from inside one of them later, she found the Physics 101 room and joined her classmates.

The rest of the day went by without any more mishaps or forgetfulness on her part and Brittany was glad for it. She always liked being able to get by without Santana's constant, worrisome presence. Though she had to admit, having the caring, doting side of her fiery best friend all to herself was a nice thing to lay claim to. Nevertheless, she was happy to have survived a day alone. And after the last class of the day, she walked with her head held high into the Glee practice room, trying to not let on how glad she was to be surrounded by her singing mates once more and out of the hectic chaos that was the rest of the student body.

After she took a seat on the floor level of chairs next to Kurt, she watched the clock as the rest of Glee shuffled into the room. She wondered when Santana might get there, but then quickly chastised herself. She was supposed to be going without her best friend. So Brittany was glad when Kurt turned to her suddenly and asked what she was going to be for Halloween.

"A peanut allergy," she told him. It was the perfect idea, she thought as she watched Kurt process her reply. She couldn't think of anything more frightening than the time she had unthinkingly grabbed a handful of Santana's peanuts at a Cleveland Indians game during the seventh inning stretch the summer before. After a bite, which Santana had missed because she had been going off about a new nickname for Rachel, Brittany felt itchy, and immediately scratched feverishly at her throat. Then she started coughing. Realizing what she had done, she grabbed for Santana's hand. She recalled the look of realization, and then terror on her friend's face before she shoved Brittany out of her seat, through the crowded stands, and into the nearest bathroom where she dug furiously through her satchel bag. In a matter of seconds, she had pulled out Brittany's spare medicine and given her a shot of epinephrine.

Bringing herself out of the memory, Brittany concluded that nothing could match the scared look on Santana's face then. So she thought, naturally, her costume idea was brilliant. She noticed that Kurt, however, just smiled before turning back around in his chair to talk to Mercedes. She shrugged to herself and faced the front of the classroom.

Mr. Shue, she found, was already talking to them, announcing that this week they would be performing a musical for rehearsal instead of their usual stuff. As Brittany heard Rachel mutter something under her breath, she slowly realized that Mr. Shue talking meant that everybody was already in the room.

She turned to look behind her and found Santana in the top row, sitting with her arms outstretched over her binder in her lap, her eyes narrowed and, Brittany noticed, deliberately avoiding hers. For a moment, Brittany felt a pang of guilt at making her friend feel ignored. But she knew it had to be done.

After a moment, she turned back to hear Mr. Shue tell them they would be performing Rocky Horror Picture Show for their assignment. As everyone erupted around her (both in excitement and confused protest) she stole another glance back at Santana. She found her leaning forward towards Quinn, whispering something in her ear. At this, Brittany felt not guilt, but a wave of jealousy that it wasn't _her_ ear Santana was whispering some funny, snide comment in about their teacher's music choice. And as Mr. Shue began one of his meant-to-be inspirational spiels about how the music fit them because it represents being different and individuality or something, she thought back to a night the summer before when she and Santana had rented the film-version of the show from a video store.

Both of their parents' didn't think the movie was appropriate for either of their teenage daughters'. But, as Brittany had predicted, that didn't stop Santana from flirting with the college boy behind the video counter so he would forget that the DVD he checked out for them was R-rated. And back in Santana's room, the two of them had absorbed the campy, outrageous, and sexy story like eager sponges.

"Wait," Brittany heard herself saying as they watched. "Is that a man or a woman?"

Santana answered, "Well, he's a man who chooses to be more like a woman."

Brittany nodded, still not fully understanding. Sensing this, Santana explained further.

"He's a transvestite, B. A man who dresses and acts like a woman because he's always felt more comfortable like that."

"Oh," Brittany replied. Then, she felt Santana's cool hand grab her own as they lay on their stomachs on top of the bed. She gave it a comforting pat.

"It's ok if you don't get it B."

Brittany glanced over at her friend and smiled gratefully. Santana grinned back, and then nuzzled her face into Brittany's neck.

"Thanks," said Brittany. Then she felt Santana's lips only centimeters from her ear.

"Just enjoy the movie."

Brittany shivered slightly at the feel of Santana's breath tickling her ear. She swallowed and nodded, returning her focus to the TV screen.

Indeed, Brittany found that towards the end of the movie, she really had enjoyed it, even if she didn't completely get it. All she knew was that the whole thing made her want to get up and dance, which she did half-way through "The Time Warp." Choreography was something that she did understand, and so she jumped and thrust along with the cast between Santana and the TV, the former looking on in amusement. And later, when Rocky and Janet sang, Brittany found herself being twirled and spun around the room as Santana cooed, "I wanna be dirty," in circles around her.

Back in the choir room, Brittany's heart gave a leap. Forcing herself to once again tune back into her classmates, she found they were all discussing who would play who in the production. She listened as Artie said he would play the guy in the wheelchair, and then Mr. Shue suggested that Kurt play the sweet transvestite. Kurt objected, and then Santana spoke up.

"Why?" she asked him. "Because that look was last season?"

Brittany hid a small smile. Kurt didn't respond, but she knew what his face was saying. She felt for him. Even if she did find the comment kind of funny, she knew what Santana said had been unnecessary. She was just finding ways to take out her anger. Brittany felt bad that Kurt had to take a hit on her behalf, whether he knew it or not.

Then Mr. Shue said that the girls would have to double up on the Magenta and Columbia characters. Brittany smiled at the thought of her and Santana in the French maid and tap dancer costumes. She stole another look towards the back of the room. This time, Santana was smiling too. Brittany met her friend's gaze for a brief moment, making the brunette's smile grow a little wider. Maybe, Brittany thought, Santana was thinking of the same thing. She felt her cheeks flush again.

Eventually, they got through the rest of the rehearsal with their parts all laid out, script edits discussed, and only one more comment from Santana through all of it. After their teacher released them for the day, Brittany grabbed her backpack and started off down the hallway. It was times like these when she wished that her locker wasn't so close to Santana's. It was so much easier to be mad at her friend if she couldn't see Santana's brown eyes, or hear her voice, which could drop practically to a purr sometimes when she spoke to Brittany. But, she thought as she heard the tread of Santana's feet on the tile coming up behind her, she would just have to deal with all of that.

"Hi," Santana muttered as she pulled up beside Brittany, her binder clutched in front of her chest. Brittany, avoiding eye contact, continued to switch out her books from inside her locker and grab the ones she would need for her homework. "Britt, why are you doing this?" Santana started again. "Please, just talk to me." Brittany felt a hand grab hers on its way into her backpack, stopping her mid-motion. She finally looked up.

"I'm still upset," she said, shrugging. She still couldn't find the right words to express what she was feeling. Hurt. Betrayed. Belittled. Taken for granted. Those were good, but not enough. She pulled her hand out of Santana's grasp, tugging an Algebra book out of her bag and placing it on a shelf in her locker. Then, before she could stop her, Santana was reaching past her and grabbing for a book off of the same shelf.

"Don't forget this one," she said. "We have to summarize chapter seven for U.S. History."

Brittany watched her friend gingerly place the book in her open backpack. She couldn't help but smile before zipping it back up and swinging it over her shoulder.

"Thanks," she said, closing her locker and turning to face Santana, who smiled back.

"Of course," she said softly. Brittany had to hold onto all of the willpower she had to not simply melt right there at how gentle Santana was being. Her friend doing even the smallest kindness for her always made her knees buckle. But, she reminded herself once again to remain touch to teach Santana a lesson.

"So," Brittany started, shuffling uneasily under her friend's gaze. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school. I still won't need a ride in the morning."

A look of confusion furrowed between Santana's dark eyebrows. "Are you sure?" she asked. "B, I really don't mind." She took a step towards Brittany, shrinking the already small gap between them. "Plus, it might be good for us if—"

"No," Brittany cut her off. "I still need some time." She took a step backwards. "Please, San."

Santana nodded, and then put her hands up in an exasperated sort of way. "Alright," she said. "If that's what you want."

"It is," Brittany said.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Santana said, "Can I call you tonight?"

Brittany looked at her incredulously. "Santana."

The brunette ginned, rolling her eyes. "What? You know you want me to," she finished in a devilish smile that Brittany couldn't help but stare at for a moment, completely transfixed.

She shook herself out of it though, repeating, "No. Not tonight."

Santana's head fell a little, but Brittany could see that she was forcing herself to remain stoic.

"Fine," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow then." With that, Santana leaned over, pulling Brittany closer to her. She suddenly felt her friend's soft, wet lips land gently onto her cheek. "Bye, B," she said before swiftly turning and walking off down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The next morning Brittany woke up early again in order to get to school on time by walking. Her parents were both already gone for work by the time she usually left with Santana. So she didn't have to worry about explaining to them that the reason she sometimes walked to school was because she and Santana were fighting.

After eating a quick breakfast and running back to her room to grab her backpack and work out bag, she started out the door. Just as she finished locking it, she felt her phone vibrate in the pocket she kept it in on the front of her backpack strap. She pulled it out and read the message. It was from Santana.

_You sure you don't need a ride? I can get coffee! _

Brittany gave a small sigh and then typed a reply.

_I'm sure. Thanks anyway._

Then she hit send and on her walk to the McKinley High campus she didn't hear her phone go off again.

Once she dropped her workout bag off in the Cheerios locker room and got her school books for the first half of the day out of her locker in the near-empty hallway, Brittany wandered down the stairs outside and into the quad. She passed the base of the handrail where she was sure Santana would be waiting for her before long. Then she meandered around several picnic tables where only a few other kids were lounging around on and eventually found herself sitting underneath the tree she had sat by the day before, next to the foreign language corridor.

Glancing at her cell phone she saw that she had a half hour before the early bell would ring. So she leaned back against the tree, letting her fair face be hit by the sun that was streaming through the leaves above her. After a few moments on sun-soaking, she opened her eyes and glanced around. There were more students, she noticed, and she momentarily wondered if Santana was waiting for her yet. Turning her head, her eyes roamed over a nearby window. Squinting, she could see the chalkboard on one of the walls inside. She couldn't make out what the words on it said, but she did now it was in Spanish. And after another second passed, she saw Mr. Shue walk past before he erased something in the top corner of the board and then replaced it with something else.

Brittany recalled taking Spanish with her Glee instructor the year before. It had been touch, she thought, learning another language. Despite what Quinn had told her about it being "the easiest language to learn," she had had her share of struggles with it. Fortunately, Santana was fluent in it from growing up around the language. So she did have plenty of help.

Looking back towards the quad, Brittany tired to see if Santana was at the base of the stairs. But there were too many students outside now to tell. So she closed her eyes once more and leaned back against the tree. She reasoned that she had some time to kill, and quickly drifted off into a daydream.

She and Santana were in Brittany's room, sprawled out on the floor between books and note pads. Brittany lay on her back, her hands lying casually across her stomach.

"Ok," Santana said. "How about this one: _ganar_." She flipped through the pages of Brittany's Spanish book while leaning on her side across from her friend.

"_Ganar_," Brittany repeated. She went through the dozens of definitions in her head that she had just memorized the night before. "_Ganar_,'" she said again. "'To play?'"

Santana sighed. "No, B. 'To play' is _jugar_. Well," she added, "you use _jugar_ if you're doing most things, like playing a sport. But you use _tocar_ if you're saying that you play an instrument. Like: _Yo toco la guitarra después de la escuela_."

Brittany listened, enjoying the fluid Spanish as it rolled easily off of Santana's tongue. She bit her lip the rolled over.

"I wish it was that easy for me," she said, pouting.

Santana smiled at her friend's face. "B, it can be, you just have to practice. Here…" Santana grabbed the Spanish book and crawled on her elbows across the floor until she was in front of Brittany, who in turn had moved onto her stomach to match. After a moment they were face to face, each propped up on their forearms with only the Spanish book between them.

"I love private lessons," Brittany said, breaking the silence. Santana shot her a look, grinning.

"I'm sure you do," she said, glancing back down to shuffle through the pages. "Alright," she finally said, Brittany watching her carefully. "Give me all of the conjugated forms of 'to clean'." Santana looked back up at her friend, waiting patiently.

Brittany frowned in concentration. "'To clean'. That's, um, _lavar_, right?"

Santana smiled. "Close. That's 'to wash'. You're looking for _limpiar_."

Brittany nodded. "I knew that. 'Limpiar," she said. "_Limpio, limpias, limpia, limp…_um_…limpi_—"

"_Limpiamos, limian_," Santana finished for her. "'We clean.' They clean.' Got it B?"

"Got it," she replied. "Give me another one."

Santana flipped more pages and Brittany wondered if she knew that they hadn't gotten very far in class yet. Mr. Shue had only finished covering household chores. But she just looked on silently as Santana searched for another word.

"How about _besar_," she said after a minute, not looking up from the book.

Brittany furrowed her brow, and then glanced down at the pages between them. Even though she was scanning upside down, she still couldn't spot the word _besar_ anywhere.

"I don't know if we've learned that one yet," she said, looking over at Santana. She noticed her friend still wasn't making eye contact. Santana simply repeated herself.

"_Besar_. Conjugate."

Brittany looked at her for another moment, and then decided to give up and just do as she was told. She cleared her throat then said, "_Beso, besas, besa, um…besamos, besan_." She finished with a smile on her face, glad she had remembered all of the forms.

Santana met her eyes then. "Good job, B." then she moved herself to balance on one side in order to stick out her left hand for a high-five. Brittany gleefully returned it, and then giggled as they resituated themselves.

She asked, "What does that mean anyway, San?"

Santana's eyes flickered back down onto the book. "'To kiss.'"

Brittany felt her stomach automatically give a jolt, followed by the blood rushing to her face. "Oh," she managed to say quietly. "Cool."

Santana nodded and Brittany could see a little color run to her friend's face as well.

"So," Santana spoke slowly, "you had: 'I kiss, you kiss, she kisses…'"

Brittany's eyes met Santana's as she was suddenly leaning in close. Brittany could see the flecks in Santana's dark brown eyes, but quickly dropped her gaze onto the pink lips only inches from her own. She could barely hear Santana when she spoke again.

"'We kiss.'"

Their lips collided gently and Brittany could feel her heart leaping into her throat. She slipped her tongue between Santana's lips and the brunette moaned softly. Then before she knew what was happening, Santana was pushing Brittany onto her back, laying her own body down on top, never breaking their kiss as she did so.

This wasn't the first time this had happened between them. Nor was it going to be the last, Brittany figured as Santana's fingers danced around the edges of her shorts. She knew this wasn't typical behavior for best friends, and Santana knew it too. Brittany concluded, though, that she would be the only one ever willing to admit that. If Brittany ever tried to bring up what they did together at night, or sometimes even between classes, Santana wouldn't have it. Nevertheless, it didn't stop her from seducing Brittany every chance she got. And, despite the fact that she hated that Santana ignored this whole aspect of their relationship, Brittany could almost never bring herself to say no.

"Uh, Brittany?"

Brittany opened her eyes. Blinking, she saw Mercedes standing in front of her, Kurt a few steps behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking down at Brittany peculiarly.

It took a second, but Brittany finally realized that she was grinning from ear to ear. Forcing herself to be serious, she answered, "Um, I was learning Spanish."

She watched the two of them exchange glances. Then Kurt chimed in.

"Britt, you may find that it's easier to learn _inside_ of the school building. Not by looking in from the outside. Creepily."

Brittany just smiled before moving to stand up. She looked at her cell phone. She had seven minutes until the late bell rang.

"Well," Mercedes said warily. "See you in Glee club then." Then she and Kurt continued walking towards the quad, their arms linked.

Brittany watched them go for a moment, pulling herself completely out of the daydream before grabbing her backpack and starting for the doors of the school.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

That morning Brittany only accidentally walked into two wrong science classrooms after mistaking them for her own before taking her seat in the correct one. As she got situated, she silently thanked both Mercedes and Kurt for interrupting her daydream earlier. God knows how long she could've been out there drooling over her thoughts if they hadn't. Pulling out her journal to begin her notes, she pushed all lingering thoughts of Santana out of her mind and forced herself to listen to the lecture.

Later that day during lunch, Brittany was happily going through the food line when she felt her phone go off again, this time from inside the front pocket of her Cheerios jacket. As the lunch lady piled a spoonful of broccoli onto her otherwise empty plate, she opened up the message from Santana.

_B, where are you?_

She read the message then set the phone down onto her tray. After grabbing an apple and a carton of milk she walked over to a table near the back of the room and sat down at the end of it. Spearing a piece of broccoli with the end of her fork, she picked up her phone with her other hand and replied.

_Lunch room._

She pressed send and then shoved the veggie into her mouth. Glancing around the cafeteria, she wondered how long it would take for Santana to march in there looking for her. Brittany smiled slightly; having the power to make Santana come to her was pretty satisfying.

And sure enough, only two minutes later, Brittany spotted her best friend from across the crowded room, standing on her tiptoes to pinpoint her location. Their eyes quickly found each other and Brittany swallowed hard as she watched Santana start briskly towards her, clearing a path as she went. She picked up the apple on her plate and mentally prepared herself to not give in to her friend's inevitable questions and demands. Taking a giant, hurried bite of the apple, she looked up with feigned surprise when Santana was suddenly standing across from her on the other side of the table.

"Hey," she sputtered through the bite of apple.

"Hi," Santana said with her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "So, where were you this morning?"

Brittany glanced down at her plate. She tried to think of something clever to say, but quickly gave up and said, "Oh, I was just hanging out." She could feel Santana's gaze fixed on her.

"'Hanging out'?"

Brittany glanced up to find one of her friend's eyebrows raised suspiciously. She bit another chunk of apple off.

"You weren't with Wheels again were you?" Santana asked.

Brittany shook her head, still avoiding eye contact. Then she quickly glanced up as Santana moved to sit down across from her. Brittany placed the apple down on the tray and took a long swig of her milk as Santana spoke again.

"Good," she said. "Because you can do way better than hanging around with that dweeb."

Brittany just shrugged, deciding that it would be pointless to try and defend Artie. Still, she wanted to get the point across that she could make it without Santana.

"Well, Kurt and Mercedes…"

"_Kurt and Mercedes?_" Santana asked, disbelief shooting from her voice. "Britt, what could you possibly be doing with the gay boy and his Aretha wanna-be?"

Brittany met Santana's gaze this time. Behind the thin wall of anger and surprise she could just see the pain in her eyes. But that was her own fault, she reasoned. Brittany knew that she had done nothing wrong. So, she simply shrugged again before saying, "They're not that bad."

Santana scoffed, "Whatever." Brittany picked at the broccoli once more. "Look," Santana said, reaching across the table for Brittany's hand that was resting on top of it. She lay her own down carefully atop the blonde's, making Brittany look up. "I just…I don't like this. I hate when we fight."

"I hate it too," Brittany said after a moment. It was true, this cycle was getting old.

Santana squeezed her hand. "Then, can't we just forget all of this? It sucked not seeing you this morning."

Brittany did her best to hide a smile. She looked into her friend's dark eyes. Forgiveness was always on the tip of her tongue when it came to Santana. It would be so easy, she thought as she turned Santana's hand over in her own, making the brunette smile.

Suddenly, Rachel and Finn walked by their table. Brittany caught a glimpse of the tiny diva walking beside her on-again, off-again boyfriend. She was about to say hi to the pair of them when they both glanced over at her and Santana. She could see their eyes flicker over their clasped hands that were still resting on top of the table, until all of sudden Santana yanked back hers and shoved it under the table.

"What are you looking at, Man Hands?" she said, sneering.

Both Rachel and Finn exchanged looks, the latter obviously confused as to whom the comment was directed at. But Rachel didn't give him a chance to figure it out. She quickly pulled him along and they hurried past the table. Once they were gone, Brittany stared at Santana, whose look of disgust was fading from her face. When she finally noticed that Brittany was less than thrilled at what had just happened, she reached out across the table again, saying, "B, I'm sorry."

But Brittany was already standing up, gathering her trash onto her tray. "Don't be," she said.

"Wait," Santana pleaded, making Brittany turn to look down at her friend. "That was uncalled for. I'm sorry."

Brittany shook her head, unable to believe that Santana couldn't pick up on the fact that it wasn't what she had said, but what she had done that had upset her so much.

"Forget it," she said. "You don't understand." She then started for the nearest trashcan to toss the remains of her lunch away. Santana had gotten to her feet and grabbed Brittany's jacket sleeve to make her turn to face her.

"B, please. Help me to understand. What's wrong?"

Brittany sighed. She searched her friend's face for a spark, or a semblance of anything that would tell her that she wasn't crazy for sticking around. Something telling her that everything she was feeling, and had been feeling for some time, wasn't going to be lost on her best friend in the end. There had to be hope that all of this bitterness, jealousy, and fighting was just Santana's way of hiding what she was feeling. Brittany had to believe this. Otherwise, what was the point?

"Not now," she finally said. "Maybe later." She needed to pull herself together. She had to be able to put on a happy face. Well, at least a presentable face for the rest of the school. And for Glee club.

Santana nodded. "Fine. See you in Glee then?"

"Sure, see you then," Brittany said. And with that, she made a bee-line for the cafeteria doors and hurried into the girls' bathroom in the hallway. Twisting on the cold water, she splashed the droplets onto her face, which had grown hot in her meeting with Santana. She forced herself to pull herself together. It was only Santana, after all.

"Right," she said aloud, looking into her own blue eyes staring back in the mirror. "It was only Santana."

* * *

Brittany waved goodbye to Mike at the end of Glee club later that day before walking back to her locker. They had had a successful rehearsal, doing "Damn It, Janet" as their practice number. Brittany laughed quietly as she opened her locker, remembering Kurt dressed partially in his costume. She had tried to braid the long, thin strands of his wig prior to them starting, but he had continuously dodged her grasp. So far, she thought, she had really enjoyed the music rehearsals this week.

As she pushed open the school door and walked towards the sidewalk, she heard a car engine roar behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. Santana pulled up beside her, braking hastily and rolling down her passenger side window.

"Hey!" she shouted from inside the car.

Brittany closed her eyes. She had to give Santana credit; she was nothing if not persistent. She kept walking, not answering her friend. Santana rolled along with her.

"Britt. Come on. Talk to me."

Brittany kept walking her hands planted firmly in her pockets. Suddenly the car jerked to a halt.

"Brittany!" Santana shouted, slamming her car into park. Brittany stopped in her tracks, and then turned as her friend climbed out of the car and moved to stand directly in front of her. Brittany swallowed, but forced a smile.

"You think this is funny?" Santana said at her friend's reaction.

Brittany shook her head. "No, not really."

"Then what is it B? What? Because you seem to be the one of us who is enjoying themselves through all of this."

Brittany looked at her, confused. "I don't enjoy this."

Santana threw up her hands. "Then what is it? Huh? Why are you doing this?"

Now was her chance. She could just blurt it out. Tell Santana how she felt, how she constantly thought about her, and didn't think she could be without her.

"I just…," she started. "Santana."

Brittany was struggling, and Santana could see it. Her critical gaze became immediately softer. Her lips were no longer pursed. Patience overtook her and her entire body relaxed as she listened.

"What, B? You can tell me."

Brittany looked into the transformed eyes of her friend. She wanted to kick herself. Why was this so hard for her?

"San, I…I just, I really care about you. And I just…I want people to know that." It wasn't exactly what she had wanted to say, but it was a start. She tried to read the look on her friend's face as she answered.

"I know you do, B. And you know how I feel about you." Brittany looked at her, pleading with her to say what she needed to hear. Sensing she should say more, Santana went on. "You're my best friend, Britt. You mean more to me than anyone else."

Brittany laughed, both out of sadness and at Santana's kind words. Was this all she was ever going to get from her? She felt water brimming up in her eyes.

"Hey," Santana said softly, moving closer to her and instinctively wiping a tear from her cheek. At the touch of Santana's hand to her face, Brittany finally let out a sob. She couldn't hold herself together anymore. It was too hard. She closed her eyes, unable to look into Santana's. Her friend pulled her into a tight hug, and Brittany breathed in the smell of Santana, but that only made her sob again.

"Shhh, B, please don't cry," Santana whispered.

Brittany breathed deeply. "I just want you to know," she said, tears flowing freely now.

Santana hugged her tighter, running fingers through Brittany's ponytail.

"I know," she said. "I know."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Once Brittany was able to pull herself together again, Santana insisted on driving her home. Brittany was so worn down by her own emotions that she didn't even try to object. And after she was inside her house, had forced down some of her dinner as her parents looked on anxiously, she hurried into the bathroom and got into a hot shower.

She stood there for almost half an hour, letting the bullets of water hit her skin while she laid her head on the wall beneath the shower head. The steam engulfed her, and she felt her mind being cleansed as she inhaled. Taking one last deep breath, she turned off the water.

Back in her room, Brittany put on her pajamas and climbed into bed. The homework she had would have to wait until tomorrow. Or she would just not do it. It wouldn't be the first time she had intentionally not turned school work in. Most people thought she was some handicapped half-wit anyway. And her parents were either too embarrassed or too scared to ever bring her grades up. But she always managed to scrape by. Besides, nobody needed to know the real reason behind her academic missteps.

Just as she lay down and closed her eyes to block out the lamp light coming from her side table, she heard her phone go off. She had thrown it onto the foot of her bed when she first entered her room, excusing herself early to her parents. Sitting up, she reached forward with lithe arms and grabbed the cell phone on top of the quilt folded neatly beneath it. Falling back onto her pillow, she read the message.

_Can I PLEASE call you?_

Brittany dropped the face of the phone down onto her chest. Across the room, she found the picture frames that sat on her dresser. In the one on the far right was a picture of her and Santana and Brittany's eighth birthday party. She had green frosting smeared all over her face. In the corner of the frame was Santana, a toothless gap visible in the grin she wore while green fingers retreated from sight, the culprit of Brittany's icing makeover. Both of them had been caught laughing hysterically as the photo was snapped. Brittany picked the phone back up.

_Sure_, she typed, and then hit send.

A second later, her phone was going off. She let it go for a couple of rings before picking it up.

"Hey," she eventually said with the phone now up to her ear.

"Hey B," she heard Santana say.

After a beat, Brittany asked, "So, what's up?"

"I just felt like we needed to talk," her friend said. "I don't think I've ever seen you jump out of a car so fast in my life."

Brittany laughed, remembering that she had bolted pretty quickly earlier. The ride home had been painful. She didn't think it would be possible to survive any more time in such a confined space with Santana. So as soon as they had pulled up to her house, Brittany grabbed her bags, said a quick "thanks" and ran for it.

"Yea, sorry about that," she said. "I…really had to pee."

This time, Santana laughed. "Uh huh. Well, it's cool, I guess. I just wanted to make sure you didn't, like, hate yourself for having to sit next to me for ten whole minutes."

Brittany sighed, thinking that it was more the fact that all she wanted to do on the drive home was turn to Santana and shake her. Do anything she could to make her understand what she was feeling.

"Because really, B," Santana was saying, "I sat next to you in Glee today, and neither of us burst into flames."

"True," said Brittany. "Glee was fun."

"It was," Santana said. It was quiet again, then, "B…are we gonna be ok?"

Brittany closed her eyes, taking in the barely audible question. Santana, she could tell, was actually worried.

"I don't know," she finally said. But she knew it wasn't really a matter of _if_ they would be ok again, but _when_ they would be ok.

She could hear Santana inhale deeply on the other end. "That's not really the answer I was hoping for." Brittany shrugged, rubbing her temple with her free hand. "Well, do you think you'll be able to forgive me?" Santana asked.

Brittany looked across the room again at the picture of them together. Things were so much easier then.

"I'm sure I will, San. Just…not yet."

Suddenly, Brittany could hear another voice through the phone. It was Santana's dad. Low Spanish tones mixed with a hasty reply from Santana after a minute. Brittany tried to make out what they were saying. She smiled a little when she caught the word 'limpiar.' After her dad had gone, Santana spoke again.

"Sorry about that," she said, sighing.

"It's fine. Gotta go clean something?"

She could practically hear the smile in her friend's voice as she replied proudly. "Hey! Good job, B. Yeah, I have to clean my bathroom. He told me to do it like a week ago, and I haven't yet. So…"

"It's cool," Brittany said. "Go clean."

Santana was quiet for a second, and then said, "I hate leaving you, B."

_Then why do you do it? _was the first thought in Brittany's head. But, she didn't want to dive any deeper into their conversation, so she let it go.

"I'll be fine, San. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok, still no ride?"

"No ride. But we'll see each other in Glee."

Brittany wasn't sure, but it almost sounded like there was a definite shake in Santana's voice. "Alright," she heard her say. "Sweet dreams, Britt."

"Goodnight, San." And with that, Brittany hung up and tossed the phone as far away from her as possible at the other end of the bed. Closing her eyes, she rolled over onto her side. She tugged the sheets tighter around her. It didn't take long for the blankets to transform into the arms of Santana. She felt her friend's hand run down her arm, fingertips gently skimming the surface, and then Santana's fingers intertwined themselves with Brittany's beneath her chin. She groaned as Santana's legs wrapped around her own, and she let her body conform completely to the smaller frame of her friend. The smell of Santana surrounded her, and she felt her warm breath on the back of her neck.

This was how it had been almost every single night this past summer. "Just a sleepover," Santana had called it. Brittany was pretty sure this wasn't what other girls did at sleepovers, but she never protested. The second Santana climbed into bed with her, some nights in nothing but her underwear, Brittany's sense of reason vanished.

With her eyes still shut tightly, she reached up and clicked off the lamp beside her. She pulled the blankets closer and drifted off to sleep.

The next day at school, Brittany walked through most of it in a daze. She arrived early again, sat by the tree, and slowly made her way to class. At lunch, her phone never went off, and there was no Santana sighting when she sat at a table by herself. While she picked at her bowl of minced pears, Artie rolled by.

"Hey," he said, tearing her attention away from the lunch tray sitting in front of her. She blinked several times, scanning his argyle sweater and gloved hands as he spoke. "Um…I was eating over there, and, well, you looked sad. So if you ever needed to talk, I wanted you to know that I'm here for you."

She stared at him. Even though they had hung out before, she was always still a little surprised to hear him speak. She had convinced herself for the longest time that he was a robot, so his sudden conversations with her caught her off guard. She supposed he sensed this, because he smiled then said, "Ok, well, see you later." Then he rolled away towards the doors and out into the hallway.

Brittany went back to picking at her food. She thought of Santana, and wondered if she was in the Cheerios locker room, where they sometimes ate with Quinn. Or, worse, she imagined her with Puck, hiding somewhere beneath the bleachers by the football field. Her stomach twisted into a knot as she pictured him towering over her with his hands reaching for places only _she_ should have access to. She was glad Santana was respecting her space, but she hadn't exactly thought about the whole cause-and-effect situation that came with it.

Forcing herself to swallow the last piece of fruit, she chased it down with the rest of her milk and then dumped her tray and made her way to her next class.

Later, in Glee club, Brittany and the rest of her group listened as Mr. Shue explained to them how Mike had to drop the role of the transvestite and that Dr. Carl was now going to audition for the spot. By now, Brittany had given up on trying to figure out why their teacher always insisted on bringing himself and other adults into their practice time. So as the dentist turned to the band, signaling that they start to play, she merely sat back and enjoyed the performance.

As he began to sing and dance to "Hot Patootie," she glanced up at Santana when he moved between her and Mike amongst their chairs. She could see her friend smiling. Even if she denied it, Brittany knew that Santana enjoyed Glee club, possibly even more than she loved the Cheerios.

But Brittany quickly snapped out of her thoughts when Dr. Carl grabbed her and stood her up. And, though it took a minute for her mind to catch up, her body knew instantly what to do. Dr. Carl twirled her across the room and her endorphins kicked in, making a smile spread like wildfire across her face. He released her hand, and she swiftly found her seat again. When she looked at Santana again, she was beaming.

Mike was now dancing with their guest, and when his turn ended Brittany high-fived him. Dr. Carl danced through the seats once more, and Brittany noticed Santana give him a hip thrust as he passed. She had to laugh; Santana never did turn the flirt off. But at that moment, Brittany was too high on her endorphins and the music to care. And after another verse passed in the song, Dr. Carl motioned for all of them to get up and join him for the chorus.

Eager to engage in something she loved, Brittany leapt out of her seat. And since Dr. Carl had paired up with Miss Pillsbury earlier, she figured that she would follow suit. Her partner was a natural pick.

She motioned for Santana to join her and the brunette quickly did. As she danced closer, Brittany grabbed instinctually for her waist. But a fleeting look from Santana reminded her of where she was, and her fingers flew from her hips before they were ever settled. Santana grabbed both of her hands in return, and they were twisting and turning each other with the rest of their class as the song surged forward.

Brittany was elated. Her face hurt from smiling so much while Santana continued to turn her. They locked eyes briefly, and Brittany's chest swelled. She was so happy. This was what she wanted. No hesitation. No paranoia. Just the two of them having a good time, together, amongst friends. And as everybody broke off to finish the number dancing by themselves, Brittany sang along, losing herself in the musical head rush that came with being dipped and turned by the one person she cared about most: Santana.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Once their dance number was through, Mr. Shue told them all to change into their costumes that the theatre department had made for them and get ready to rehearse "Sweet Transvestite." Since Mercedes offered to fill the part after Mike, they were all set. So, they shuffled out into the hall and made their way to the dressing rooms of the auditorium.

As Brittany walked with everyone, Santana hurried to catch up with her.

"You're costume all ready, B?" she asked, linking her arm through the blonde's.

Brittany eyed the arm in surprise, but kept walking. "Hey. Um, yeah. I checked it out yesterday. It looks really real."

Santana nudged her. "You mean authentic? Like it's straight out of the movie?"

"Oh," said Brittany. "Yeah, that's what I meant." She could feel the blood rushing to her face. Santana hadn't been this close, and talked this casually to her, in a while. All of this so soon after the dance with Dr. Carl just before kind of made her head spin. "Have you seen yours?" she asked, giving herself a second to regain composure.

"Totally," Santana said. She turned her head to look at Brittany. "It's pretty awesome." Her hip gave a quick jab into Brittany's side. "I can't wait to see you in yours." She grinned, and now Brittany' face was really red. She smiled back, wondering if Santana knew that she was flirting with her. In front of their class mates. At school. Well, she reasoned, it wouldn't be the first time, but still…maybe Santana was starting to catch on.

"I bet you'll look great in yours too," she finally said, facing forward again as they turned a corner.

"Oh, you know I will," Santana replied. "And hey," she added, jumping in front of Brittany to walk backwards, "maybe you and I can borrow these outfits some time. For, I don't know, a theme party…or something." Then she winked and flashed another grin before bouncing off to walk with Quinn. The rest of the trip to their dressing rooms, all Brittany could think about were the hundreds of different things Santana might've meant by "or something."

Their rehearsal couldn't have gone any better. Well, thought Brittany, maybe if Dr. Carl hadn't busted through the set suddenly and scared her half to death that might've helped. But besides that, everything about it had been great. She had loved every second of being on the stage in that costume, doing that number. And as she reached her locker, scratching her head again since its recent liberation from the wig she had been wearing, she smiled. It had taken a lot for her to not flat-out jump Santana when they had been encircling Mercedes during the song. Even with crazy hair and dramatic make-up, Santana looked good. Then again, Brittany imagined that even in a burlap sack and crocs she would find Santana to be nothing but hot.

Brittany closed her locker. "Crap," she said. She had forgotten her Cheerios bag. So, re-opening the lock to save a trip across campus with a heavy load on her back, she tucked away her school bag and took off for the locker room.

A short while later, she walked into the locker room and made for her locker. When she passed the showers, she found Santana sitting on a bench, right in front of Brittany's locker.

"Hey," Brittany said quietly, looking around. She half expected Coach Sylvester to pop out and make them run for something they had done two months ago. "Um, what are you doing here?"

Santana shrugged. "After rehearsal I came to pick up my Cheerios stuff and saw you didn't have yours. So, I decided to wait here to make sure you came to get it."

"Oh," said Brittany. "Well, I'm here now."

They stared at each other for a second, and then Santana shot up from her seat. "Right. You are." She moved to the side, driving her hands into her pockets. "Go ahead then."

Brittany raised her eyebrows, giving half a smile as she reached for the combination lock and turned it. Santana was anxious about something. She relished the thought; it was such an uncommon occurrence after all.

Grabbing her bag, she shut the door and turned back around. Santana was standing on the other side of the bench, her eyes narrowed at the floor while the toe of her shoe repeatedly rubbed a spot into it. Brittany smiled again; she knew she was the only one to ever see Santana like this.

"Well," she started, "I guess I'll be going now." She stood there for a second though, not moving. Santana acted like she hadn't even heard her. Brittany dropped her bag and sighed, confused. "San?"

Her friend looked up finally, directly at Brittany. She stepped up onto the bench, making herself momentarily a foot taller than Brittany. Then she carefully stepped down, forcing her friend to back up flat against the lockers. Brittany swallowed, suddenly cotton-mouthed, as she was pressed against the cool metal. Santana was yet to break eye contact. All the power Brittany had felt just thirty seconds before was quickly disappearing. She blinked, unsure of what to do.

"Santana?"

Her friend closed her eyes finally, and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, there were tears in them. Brittany opened her mouth to speak, but Santana beat her to it.

"Britt, I know you hate me right now, and I don't blame you" she said, her water eyes unwavering, "but I can't stand this. I am so sorry for what I did. For what I said. And," she took another breath, "for everything I didn't do. I know I don't treat you right half the time and I wanna punch myself for it because you deserve better than that."

Brittany closed her mouth, but stared wide-eyed as she listened.

Santana continued, "'Cause, B, you're the only one who gets me. You always have." She grabbed for Brittany's hand and held it in both of her own. "I can't be without you." Her eyes flickered down to their hands, and when she looked back up, tears fell down here face. "I need you."

Brittany now fought back tears of her own. Her whole chest ached to reach out to her best friend. But she, too, had confessions to make.

"I need you too, San." She squeezed Santana's hand in hers. "You have no idea how much I need you. I can't…I can't function without you."

Santana smiled. "You've managed before."

Brittany shook her head. "No, not really. It's like I'm stuck in this endless maze when you're not around. There are all of these signs pointing me in every which direction, but I don't know which ones to follow. You're what gets me through it."

Santana inched closer, licking her lips, which had grown dry. She pressed her forehead to Brittany's letting out a low breath. Brittany breathed it in. This, she thought, was as close as Santana would ever get to saying what she was feeling. She sighed, soaking in everything she had just heard, forcing it down into the deepest parts of her.

"B," Santana whispered, her eyes lowered.

Brittany didn't want to hear any more. Anything else Santana might say could ruin everything she had just been told. And those words had to be kept close, tucked away. So Brittany did the one thing she knew would keep her friend from talking.

When their lips met, it was like she set off fireworks inside of Santana. She immediately fell into their kiss, pushing Brittany back into the lockers hard. Her hands ran quickly down her arms before planting themselves firmly onto her hips. All the while, her tongue searched eagerly through Brittany's mouth, who wrapped her own arms around the brunette, placing her hands just below the cut of Santana's Cheerio skirt.

At the touch of Brittany's hands to the back of her legs, Santana's fingers flew down and crept up beneath the front of Brittany's skirt, pressing them against her. Not surprised that she was already wet, Brittany moaned and Santana took this as a sign to continue.

"Come here," she breathed, tearing her lips away. Brittany winced, both at the sudden lack of contact and at the fingers teasing her beneath her skirt. Pushing her lips back to Santana's, she let herself be led away from the locker and over towards a mat on the floor next to the sets of weights they used sometimes. When they stood on top of it, Santana broke their kiss again. Brittany smiled. She had to keep going. She had Santana all to herself. She feared that if they stopped for too long, her friend's mind might suddenly change and she would take off, leaving Brittany alone.

They kneeled down, kicking their shoes off as they went. Santana immediately had Brittany on her back and straddled her. Brittany looked up, biting her lip as she reached up and lifted the Cheerios top over Santana's head. She cupped the black-lace covered breasts in her hands before being lifted carefully up off the ground. She too was swiftly topless. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the feel of Santana's fingers tracing along her skin.

"B," Santana said, lowering herself out on top of her. "You are too beautiful."

Brittany grinned, and then pulled her friend down to her, kissing her again. Santana's fingers were once more working their way beneath Brittany's skirt. She caught her breath suddenly when Santana's fingers snuck under her spankies and deftly pressed into her. Breathing hard, she groaned and grabbed Santana's shoulder, wanting her to be closer. As her fingers worked in and out between her wet folds, Brittany longed to touch Santana in the same way. But when she reached down between her legs, Santana breathed a "no."

"I want you," Brittany moaned, arching her back into Santana. But this only made her kiss Brittany more fiercely. Her fingers pushed deeper, making Brittany gasp. It never took her very long to climax with Santana, and she could feel her entire body preparing to burst. Another groan into Santana's mouth and Brittany felt her friend's fingers flick against her clit, sending her over the edge. She cried out, digging her nails into Santana's back, who in turn leaned down to kiss gently down her neck while Brittany's body spasmed.

When the waves of euphoria subsided, Brittany opened her eyes after having closed them when she came. Santana pulled herself up to look at Brittany directly. She smiled, breathing unevenly.

"God, San," Brittany said, catching her breath. Her heart raced. Santana's fingers gently retreated from inside of her.

Leaning down, Santana kissed her again. "Hey," she said afterwards, "you started it."

Brittany laughed, feeling her ribs flex against Santana's. "Oops."

Santana bent forward again, her nose nuzzling across Brittany's. "You are so amazing," she whispered into Brittany's ear. Turning her face to look Santana straight on, Brittany crinkled her nose, making Santana kiss her again.

"Get dressed," Brittany said suddenly. Santana eyed her curiously. "Come on, I want to show you something."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: So I wrote this as the final chapter. It has a tidy ending and finishes with where it was intended to, but there's always room for more. If anybody wants a continuation, let me know. Until then, enjoy the last chapter! Thanks for reading! And thanks for the comments!**

Chapter Seven

So, Brittany thought as she watched Santana slip the top of her Cheerios uniform back on, she had made it half a week before giving in to Santana. Well, five days, she reasoned, if you count the weekend. After Santana tugged her shoes on, she stood up, smiling.

"Alright," she said, "where is it you're taking me?" Her smile faded suddenly. "Wait, B, that wasn't, like, one last great roll in the sack or whatever before you fling me off the roof from being so fed up with me, was it?"

Brittany laughed at the look of fear on Santana's face. She readjusted the Cheerios bag on her shoulder as she stood across from her. "Calm down, San. As upset as I can be sometimes," she said, prompting a guilty look from her friend, "I could never hurt your like that. Besides," she added, moving closer to pull Santana up off the mat, "how could I possibly go without run-ins like the one we just had?"

Santana's face flushed and she swung Brittany's hand playfully. "That was kind of hot, wasn't it?"

"Um, yeah," Brittany said. "Just a little."

Then Santana, her cheeks still pink, stuck out her pinky, pulling her Cheerios bag over her other shoulder. "Show me where we're going, B."

Another grin and Brittany linked Santana's pinky with her own. "Follow me."

"This is it," said Brittany, gesturing to the tree outside of Mr. Shue's classroom, her pinky still holding Santana's. She turned to her friend and found a look of confusion on her face.

"A tree?" she finally asked. "B, normally I can at least kind of understand where you're coming from with things. But…I'm having some trouble with this one." She cocked her head to the side, as if searching for the semblance of importance this tree had to Brittany, and maybe to her. But she couldn't find it. "I don't get it," she said after a minute, glancing sideways at her friend. "I'm sorry."

"It's cool, San," Brittany said casually, nudging her arm in reassurance. She set her bag down and moved over to the wide trunk of the tree before sitting down at its base. She leaned back, letting her face be hit once again by the late afternoon rays streaming through the leaves. When she looked back at Santana, she was watching her in such way that Brittany had to look down in order to regain her composure from all of the undiluted affection. She swallowed then met Santana's gaze.

"This is where I go," she explained, fumbling her fingers through the brittle grass around her. "When I'm upset sometimes, before school…or between classes." She shrugged. "Whenever I'm supposed to meet you somewhere, but I don't show, it's because I'm here."

Santana stood unmoved for a moment, watching Brittany. Then she scanned the tree, seeming to size it up in her dark, curious eyes. "Why here?" she asked, still standing a few feet away.

Brittany thought about it for a second. She had never really wondered why she always ended up there, at that tree, when she they were fighting.

"Well," she started, mulling the idea over in her mind, "do you remember that time in elementary school when Puck was teasing me about that unicorn shirt I liked to wear?"

Santana smiled at the memory. "Yeah. That was the first time I punched that kid." Her face softened. "And—

"It was the first time you saw me cry," Brittany finished. "I was so embarrassed. I just wanted to disappear. So I found the biggest tree I could find next to the playground and sat there until recess was over. Well, actually, until you came and found me." She looked up from the fallen leaf she had been folding over between her fingers. Santana stepped towards her, sitting her bag on the ground before scooting down the tree to sit next to Brittany.

"You were so sad," she said. "And adorable."

Brittany laughed, blinking back tears. "I don't know about that." She stole a glance at Santana, who was watching her carefully. Then she looked back up into the multi-colored leaves overhead. "I guess this tree just kind of reminds me of that one. It's a safe place I can go to."

"But now you go here because it's me who's hurting you," Santana said, shaking her head. "I never wanted to be the one to upset you."

"I know," said Brittany, gently bumping her knee against her friend's. "Just kind of happened, I guess.

"But that's not ok," Santana said, anger rising in her voice. "I'm your best friend. I'm supposed to be protecting you. I'm supposed to make sure you're safe…and happy." She reached a hand over to land on Brittany's knee. "Wait," she said, narrowing her eyes, "if this is where you go to get away from me, why are you showing it to me now?"

Brittany smiled. "Because I have faith in you, San. And this is me…um…drawing a line," she stated, thumping her fist on the ground in a mock attempt at authority.

Santana half-grinned, her eyebrow arched. "You're drawing a line?"

Brittany nodded. "Yep. I am declaring that you are no longer allowed to make me mad, which in turn gives you the privilege of knowing my secret hide-out." She placed her hand on top her Santana's, which was still resting on her knee. "But really…I don't want to hide from you anymore."

"And I don't want to make you feel like you ever have to," Santana said, barely above a whisper.

Brittany fixed her gaze on Santana's, taking in all of the emotions pouring out of them. When it became almost too much to handle, she said, "Come here," and pulled Santana into a hug.

Her friend's fingers ran through her ponytail as she nuzzled her face into the crook of Brittany's neck. She breathed her in deeply. It felt right; revealing one of her secrets to Santana. It's not like she had very many, but at the same time, this place had been only hers for a while. To finally be able to let Santana in just a little bit more felt really good. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself by doing this, but she had to believe Santana would turn everything around.

Apparently reading her mind, Santana said suddenly, "I won't let you down, B." Then she kissed her on the cheek and pulled her tighter into their hug.

Just then, faint music sounded from somewhere nearby. Sniffling, Brittany pulled back, looking around to find the source. "You hear that?" she asked, wiping a stray tear running down her face. Santana looked at her a moment longer, rubbing her hand along Brittany's arm. "San," Brittany said, smiling at her friend's unwillingness to get off topic.

Eventually Santana sighed, answering, "Yeah…sounds like it's coming from in there." She pointed at the school building only a few feet away.

Brittany glanced over her shoulder, having to look behind her since resituating herself to face Santana. "That's Mr. Shue's room," she said, standing up, which quickly incited a half-whine, half-groan from Santana, who tried to pull her back down. But Brittany just laughed and tugged her arm away. "It sounds familiar," she said, moving closer to peer in the window. Glancing around inside, she found their Glee coach in the dimly lit classroom. With him was Miss Pillsbury.

Santana forced herself up from the ground and stood next to Brittany, peeking over the bottom of the window with her. "I swear, those two really just need to get a room and go at it," she quipped, sounding like her usual, snide self again.

Brittany grinned. "But isn't she like…agoraphobic or something?"

Santana bumped her shoulder. "It's mysophobia, B. She hates germs. Not the outdoors."

"Oh," she replied. "I was close."

They shared a smile before Santana said, "They're doing Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me. Remember that one, B?"

Brittany glanced from the adults inside to Santana, who wore a mischievous grin. Of course she remembered that scene. The lyrics pretty much always popped into her head at the first sight of Santana on any given day.

"Um, yeah," she managed to say finally, trying to quell the sudden surge of flashbacks of their recent locker room tryst.

"Why don't we help 'em out a bit," Santana said. "You know…role play."

Brittany's face flushed. "Sounds perfect."

So they did. Enjoying a bit of shameless voyeurism, she and Santana chimed in with their lines, originally delivered by Magenta and Columbia in the movie. Brittany ignored the creepy factor of having to see Mr. Shue take his shirt off and instead relished their little rendition of the number. Before it was over though, Santana had dragged her away from the window. Grabbing their bags, she took Brittany's pinky in her own and they danced through the school hallway together. When their song came to a close, Brittany skipped over to her locker, breathless.

"Wow, San. That…was…awesome," she said through heavy breaths.

Santana landed next to her, her back flat against her own locker. "We did kick that song's ass, didn't we?"

Brittany nodded, placing her hand over her chest to help slow her breathing. Then, she was suddenly pressed back against the lockers as Santana turned over and stood in front of her. She pushed her hips into Brittany's, lust in her eyes. A second later, Santana's lips met hers.

"What's gotten into you?" Brittany was able to ask when Santana finally pulled back, letting them both breathe.

She simply grinned, then shrugged. Grabbing both of Brittany's hands, Santana wrapped her fingers between them, leaning backwards on her heels to pull Brittany off the lockers. "I don't know," she said. "But…you should get your stuff. I'm driving you home."

Brittany thought about this for a second. "My mom won't be home yet," she said, teasingly pulling Santana's arms over her until she was leaning over her against the lockers.

"Is that so?" Santana said, pressing herself again into Brittany, who bit her lip at the contact. She nodded. "Well then," she said, smiling eagerly, "let's get out of here."


End file.
